Thursday, February 18

The GF Flour Olympians

The Olympics have me pumped.What could be more exciting than watching recaps on the kitchen television while I cook?Last night I mixed flours while I watched.I have discovered—through personal crash and burn tests—that on their own, gluten-free flours cannot be swapped one-for-one for wheat flour.But in team action with xanthun gum, flours that are gluten-free make a winning combination every time.

My core team players for my wholegrain flour mix are millet, sorghum, and brown rice at twice the amount of whichever other flours I use.Add single measure ratios of potato and tapioca starch and then add equal amounts of whatever other flours are on hand.

Some other great team players are coconut flour, garfava bean, soy, buckwheat, almond meal, amaranth, flax meal, quinoa and teff.

I grind most of the grains myself, so by the time I was ready for last night’s main event, my kitchen looked like the Canadian Rockies covered in a light skiff of white powder.

Mixes shave minutes off prep. time, but this morning I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have been so focused on the downhill race.When I popped open the oven, I found muffins that were flat and short –last place in Olympic excellence.I can almost hear the commentator’s diatribe on the agony of defeat.

It was a major wipeout and rethinking my strategy, I‘m sure that when Lindsey Vonn was aceing the downhill, I was botching the muffin mix.I shook the bag and wondered why the muffin mix felt so light.I forgot to add ingredients and muffins lacking leavening, and sweetening turn out like this: